Quince time

Our quince tree has grown a lot this year and has many large quince on it. Quince is not a fruit that you eat raw so I've been wondering what to do with all these fruit. There must be at least a hundred quince on the tree!

In previous years I've used the few fruits we got in salads, an upside quince cake, making quince jelly etc. When you search for quince recipes however, they all tend to involve large amounts of added sugar. I wanted to avoid this. Also, quince are not easy to cut and prepare as they are very hard when raw.

So, I decided I would just peel them and then cook them in the simmering oven of my aga in water.

They came out beautifully. As they are so large, I could only cook 6 at a time, so did three batches today! I guess that means I have about 6 days of cooking in total!

After cooking them, I then made them into quincesauce - which is really just like applesauce, but made with quince instead of apples! I don't add any sweetener at all - and it really doesn't need it. Basically it is pureed cooked quince and delicious. I love the fact that its not too sweet and can see myself using it in a lot of different dishes.

I used some to make a quince fool today and then made a big batch of quince granola - basically gluten free oats, puffed brown rice and quinoa flakes tossed in quince sauce and baked.

I think I will easily have enough quince sauce to last me the year, that is if I get around to cooking the rest of the quince! Wish me luck or maybe it's stamina I need!

Quince have high levels of fiber, are high in antioxidants and contain a lot of pectin. They also help with digestion and relieve diarrhea and have been seen to have anti-viral effects.